Mood:
specialNow Playing: Adventures at Cass
Topic: Cass Railroad
Today I'm continuing my train of thought on things to do when it is warm. This is because it keeps the mind off the cold temperatures outdoors, and helps me remember that spring is only a month or two away. Of course, it also might give one of you reason to visit one of my favorite tourist attractions in WV - Cass Scenic Railroad.
One reason I like Cass so much is because I can never remember a time when I didn't know about it. I grew up in nearby Pendleton County, and I heard stories as a child about my great-grandfather who had worked at Cass while it was still a lumbering town. He never lived there, but worked at Cass as a saw sharpener - yes, he sharpened the crosscut saw blades.
Here is Cass, WV. A shay - that's train engine- is pulling into the station, ready to take tourists on the ride to Whittaker Station, and maybe all the way to Bald Knob. I've found that the Whittaker Station trip is enough for me. The Bald Knob trip takes pretty much all day, and I don't relish being on a train that long. Some people like it, though.
Cass is more than a train station though. It has a restaurant, a country store, and restored company houses that you can rent for a short vacation. There is also a walking tour you can take of the town, and several nice shops. There is also a model train exhibit and museums on train history and Cass itself. The original depot and tours of the machine shop are also available.
The Depot:
The Restaurant:
The restaurant is called "The Last Run" named for the term referring to the last train ride.
History is everywhere at Cass, from the store windows to the restaurant - here are some of the exhibits in the railroad museum next door:
Those are merely a few of the items in the museum. Of course, my all-time favorite part of Cass is no longer in existence. The wildlife museum closed many years ago, in the late 1990s. All the taxidermied animals are gone, and only my memories are left. I loved to come there as a child, when my brother Matthew and I would marvel at the black bear, the vultures, the mountain lions, and all the other animals that had been mounted over the years. There was every possible WV animal there, with the exception of an elk or buffalo. I think there was an elk head on the wall. There were even stuffed snakes, beavers, and all kinds of birds. To me, it was the place to go at Cass. Here are my brother and I when we were little sitting outside the entrance to the animal museum. The sign, as you can partly see, was held by a giant stuffed black bear (well, it looked big to me then).
I'm the one with the towhead. My brother is the one with the bedhead. He never could keep his hair down - Dad called it his "mean hairs".
I've taken a few train rides at Cass, but I will never forget the animal museum. It was my favorite part of the whole place. I have to admit though, that Cass is one of those places that holds a special place for me. Not only do I have a lot of personal family history there, but it is also a place that keeps drawing me back as if there is something it is trying to tell me. I like to think of the town as a member of the family that I've got to visit every once in a while, just so I know it is still doing ok.
And so far, Cass is chugging along just fine. Come back tomorrow for Cass part 2!
